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Jovan Hill

English III AP 3rd Period

April 4, 2011

Of Mice and Men LTD

1. Characterization: George- George is a caring, compassionate, and loyal man. He looks out for
Lennie, and even when he feels like his life would be so much easier without him,(11-12) he
apologizes because he empathizes with Lennie’s condition. He can hold his own and still
fantasize about his dream to raise enough money to buy a farm with Lennie to get him through
the day. Like Lennie, George can be defined by a few distinct characteristics. He is short-
tempered but a loving and devoted friend, whose frequent protests against life with Lennie
never weaken his commitment to protecting his friend. George’s first words, a stern warning to
Lennie not to drink so much lest he get sick, set the tone of their relationship. George may be
terse and impatient at times, but he never strays from his primary purpose of protecting
Lennie. Unlike Lennie, George changes as the novel progresses. Lennie- Lennie is a simple
character who likes to stroke soft things. He is a gentle giant with no intentions of hurting
anyone. He isn’t very smart but is strong and is a good worker because he does what he is told.
He adores George and is sometimes misinterpreted with his actions (accused of rape, killing of
animals, and the killing of Curley’s wife). “We could live off the fatta the lan’” shows Lennie’s
simple vocabulary and learning disorders. He thrives off of the dream of the farm. George has
to constantly tell Lennie that “someday [they’re] gonna get the Jack together and [they’re]
gonna have a little house and a couple of acres and a cow and some pigs”. Slim- Slim is an old
and tired man who has worked at the ranch for years and is considered the prince of the ranch.
Slim is the one everyone looks up to and gets advice from. Candy agrees to kill his dog when
Slim says it’s a good idea. He admires George and Lennie’s friendship and proceeds to console
George after Lennie’s death. He believes and wants to participate in George and Lennie’s
dream to own a farm. Carlson- Carlson is another ranch hand who kills Candy’s dog to “put it
out of its misery.” He doesn’t like the old dog and symbolizes the “out with the old in with the
new” aspect of the novel. It is Carlson’s gun that is used to kill Lennie. Candy- Candy is an old
man with only one hand that is nearing the end of his days as a ranch hand. He sacrifices his life
savings if they get the ranch because he feels like he will be fired from the ranch soon but he
would rather be shot. Curley- Curley is a temperamental guy (the boss’s son) who is constantly
looking to pick fights with the workers at the ranch. Steinbeck put Curley in the story to
emphasize his belief that those in power only came to such authority through money rather
than actual talent. Curley is not more talented, nor is he more intelligent than the other men
but he still has all the authority. Crooks- Crooks is the old black man on the ranch that
represents the motif of isolation in the novel. Crooks wishes for companionship, but he has to
accept the separation between whites and blacks. Curley’s wife- Curley’s wife is trouble from
the very start of the novel. “She’s gonna make a mess…no place for a girl, ‘specially like her”.
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She is a temptress that is lonely and often wanders around the farm. She resents her husband.
Her American Dream is to become a movie star, but that obviously never happens because she
is killed.
2. A foil character is a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) to
highlight different qualities about each other. George and Lennie are character foils in many
ways, appearance being one of them. Lennie is big and harmless, while George is small with a
wiry frame. Lennie is calm while George is easily excitable. They are foils of each other: one big,
one small; one naive, the other experienced; one a child, the other a parent.  To use Freud's
terms, George is the Superego (the social, moral side), Lennie is the Id (the hidden desire side).
As such, they are inseparable. Slim in Carlson are character foils to each other in that Slim is a
wise old man who provides insightful words for others. He is comfortable in his life and isn’t
threatened by anyone. He is a guide and a mentor for George and George wants to be like him.
Carlson, on the other hand, is an insensitive man with a lack of feelings and concern that further
proves the goodness in Slim. Carlson is someone that George does not want to be like where
Slim is. “His ear heard more[…] action as those of a temple dancer”. This describes Slim’s caring
and empathetic personality.
3. A Microcosm is anything regarded as a world in miniature. The ranch is a world in itself. Apart
from the opening and ending sections, nothing is set outside of the ranch in deep detail. The
people of the ranch have their own society, social norms, and function. An example of rule or
social norm is when Candy says “a guy on a ranch don’t never listen nor he don’t ask no
questions” (67). This displays the functioning of the ranch. The characters eat, sleep, work, and
socialize at the ranch, and its all they will do until they leave. When Curley wants Lennie
lynched instead of jailed for his wife’s death it is just another demonstration of the ranch’s
social norm.
4. John Steinbeck did some farming as a teenager in California like in the novel, along with the
years it is set in. When Wall Street Crashed in 1929, farmers everywhere popped up. However,
when the dust bowl hit in the Oklahoma area, farmers were forced to move to California. Many
farmers migrated here for the dry climate. The farming life is grueling and challenging and is
demonstrated throughout the entire novel. The book is set during the economic peak of
farming in California. Because of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, workers and farmers
alike were uprooted and forced to move to find new jobs. The new society at this time was now
one in constant motion. George represents one of these Americans in that he finds it difficult to
assimilate into any particular job or life.
5. The setting, the 1930s in Southern California impacts the mode and tone of events in many
ways. At this crucial point in our nation’s history, money was extremely hard to come by due to
the 25% unemployment rate. Most people, therefore, took up farming. In this time period there
were the business owners and the workers, who had a very hard life in the intense labor of the
farms. Legal systems were also very weak at this time and it led to private legal action amongst
the workers. Steinbeck uses the misfortunes of the time to support his beliefs of the evils of the
American capitalistic economic system. Steinbeck is bitter towards the economic situation of
the time, and displays his dissatisfaction through the misfortune of the characters in Of Mice
and Men. Steinbeck believes that those who are in power have gotten to where they are
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because they had money, and anyone who doesn’t have the money is unable to accomplish
anything with the capital system. The tone, therefore, is at times bitter and resentful towards
the situation. The overall tone throughout the entire novel is sentimental, tragic, doomed,
fatalistic, rustic, moralistic, and comic. Steinbeck uses a doomed and tragic tone to convey the
misfortunes of that time period.
6. The novel is a long short story that is divided into six sections. The first two sections are
expository in learning about George and Lennie’s relationship. Action begins in the third section
when Curley and Lennie fight and Lennie’s strength is described for the first time. This rising
action predicts trouble with Lennie to come. The fourth chapter contains themes of loneliness
that are displayed through everyone’s fears of being alone, including Curley’s wife. The fifth
chapter is the beginning of the peak of action. The loneliness of the last section leads Curley’s
wife to the barn where Lennie accidentally kills her. The sixth chapter is the end of the peak of
action which Lennie runs to the clearing and George ends his life to put him out of his misery
before the lynch mob does. The falling action of the novel is when George realizes the true
cruelty of the world. The book is a classic plot model in order chronologically.
7. Animal injury is displayed in the novel when Lennie is constantly accidentally killing the soft
animals. Lennie accidentally kills both the mouse at the beginning of the novel and the puppy.
Lennie’s unintentional killing of these animals foreshadows his uncontrollable strength and
eventually the killing of Curley’s wife. The shooting of Candy’s ancient dog foreshadows the
event of George shooting Lennie. Animal imagery is used in the novel to portray themes and
motifs. In the sixth and final section, for example. Steinbeck spends time describing an
encounter between a heron and a water snake. “A water snake glided smoothly up the pool,
twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to
the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down
and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved
frantically” (Steinbeck 99). This scene between the heron and the snake represent the fact that
death comes quickly and unexpected for the unaware. The unaware in this case is Lennie, who
is about to be shot by George. Candy’s ancient dog is described as being a smelly old dog.
Steinbeck’s purpose in the description of the dog is to emphasize the terrible fate of those who
outlive their purpose.
8. Naturalism is a literary and philosophical movement that seeks to apply the scientific principles
of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings. Naturalist novels often explore the
world as a place where you have to fight to survive in a universe that has no morality and
doesn’t care about you. It’s not unusual for naturalist novels to end in degradation and despair. 
Of Mice and Men is an example of naturalism in that the two main characters are faced with a
world that does not care about them or their situation in the failing economy. Steinbeck uses
this theory of naturalism to further explain his belief that the social and economic classes of the
US are constructed and not natural. Steinbeck successfully conveys the stories of “real”
Americans.
9. Modernism is marked by a strong, intentional break with tradition. Modernist’s experience is
that of loss or alienation. Modernists are the champions of the individual and celebrate inner
strength. Of Mice and Men was written during a time where there were many concerns for the
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growing destruction of society and the disillusionment of the American Dream. One aspect of
Modernism that is evident in the novel is Marx’s revelation of class structure being constructed
instead of natural. Here we see two men with an American Dream hindered by the economic
burdens of their time. Steinbeck, a socialist, wrote this book to demonstrate what he thought
was injustice of America’s capitalist economic system. Of Mice and Men deals with economic
classes.  The hired hands are very much economically trapped.  Marx's beliefs, which were part
of the world Modernism dealt with, are reflected in the novel.  Curly is certainly not inherently
superior to anyone in the novel, yet he is the owner's son.  The class system in the work does
not accurately reflect one’s abilities or intelligence. It is just a construct. Another way in which
the book displays modernism is the fact that the characters in the book never reach their
dreams. Curly’s wife, for example, always wanted to be a movie star; however, she died before
she could do so. Also, George and Lennie have a dream of owning a farm, but they obviously
never reach that dream together because of Lennie’s mental state and threat to society.
10. The Poem “To a Mouse” connects to Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in that both display the
inability of one to accomplish their goals. Both also convey the deterioration of the American
Dream. The poem speaks of how the best laid plans are destroyed. George and Lennie have this
plan to buy a farm where they can grow their own food and Lennie can have all the soft rabbits
that he wants. This plan is destroyed when Lennie kills the Curley’s wife. The poem also talks of
how one looks towards the future with fear and grief for the misfortunes to come. George may
fear that Lennie’s strength plus his mental handicap will pose as a danger for not only mice but
people too. However, the mouse in the poem does not have the mental capacity to have
hindsight or foresight, whereas humans have to worry about the past, present, or future. The
characters in the book have to worry about the past misfortunes, present burdens, and possible
future mishaps; Lennie, however, is much like the mouse in that he sometimes does not even
remember what he is doing. “’You remember where we’re goin’ now?’ Lennie looked startled
and then in embarrassment hid his face against his knees. ‘I forgot again’” (Steinbeck 6). Lennie
does not have the same worries and preoccupations that the other characters do and he can
only focus on the immediate present.
11. George and Lennie’s American Dream is to one day have enough money to buy their own farm.
George constantly tells Lennie how one day they will accomplish that dream, saying that they
will “live of the fatta the lan’” (Steinbeck 14). Lennie, therefore, has a romantic vision of their
dream and wants George to tell him “what [they’re] gonna have in the garden and about the
rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is
on the milk like you can hardly cut it” (Steinbeck 14). This ideal of the farm would allow George
and Lennie to live separate from society’s harsh judgment and expectations. George’s dream is
to have a farm where he can grow his own crops and food, and Lennie’s dream is to be in charge
of all the rabbits on the farm. Steinbeck’s purpose in not letting the two main characters reach
their dream is to emphasize the fact that only those who have money can reach their dream.
For example, Curley has money and, therefore, the power. He isn’t more intelligent or in any
way a better human being than anyone else, but uses his money to get ahead. George, Lennie,
Crooks,and Candy, on the other hand, have incredible aspiration but no money. Steinbeck
thinks that their lack of money is what prevents them from reaching their dream.
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12. Foreshadowing is defined as a presentation in a work of literature of hints and clues that tip the
reader off as to what is to come later in the work. There are many instances of foreshadowing in
Of Mice and Men that hint towards the killing of Lennie in the final chapter. The shooting of
Candy’s ancient dog, for example, eludes to the shooting of Lennie. Carlson makes the point
that he could shoot the dog without him feeling anything. “The way I’d shoot him, he wouldn’t
feel nothing. I’d put the gun right there. […] Right back of the head. He wouldn’t even quiver”
(Steinbeck 45). Steinbeck uses parallelism in the final chapter in which Curley says “Right in the
back of the head” (Steinbeck 107). The reader is able to connect the two scenarios in order to
see how the first one hints towards the second. Another instance of foreshadowing in the novel
is when George gets Lennie a puppy. Like the mouse, the Puppy is soft and loveable; however,
the puppy is bigger than the mouse and therefore might not be as vulnerable. When Lennie
accidentally kills the puppy as well, it underlines his mental state and foreshadows the incident
with Curley’s wife. No matter how large the animal or human is, Lennie’s mental state does not
allow him to control himself.
13. Loneliness- Many of the characters in the novel admit to some extent of loneliness. George
shoulders the responsibility of taking care of Lennie when Aunt Clara died. Men like George
wander from ranch to ranch and job to job without ever developing an intense companionship
with anybody. As the novel progresses, other characters announce their fears of being thrown
off the ranch. The fact that they admit their fears to complete strangers shows their
desperation. In a world where these men have no true friends, strangers are adequate. Staying
true to George’s prediction that he will be forever lonely, his chances of companionship die
along with Lennie. The beginning of the novel mentions that the story takes place “a few miles
south of Soledad” (Steinbeck 1). The world Soledad itself means alone.
Isolation-Lennie is not lonely, but isolated. His isolation comes from the fact that he is
constantly getting in trouble with everyone else because he does things that upset them, even
though it is unintentional. George is quite fond of the idea of isolation because it means that he
would not have to make sure that Lennie doesn’t upset anyone. During the Great Depression,
people all across America were uprooted and forced to move through the nation to find new
jobs. Everyone is basically following the “every man for himself” theory in that no one takes the
time to get close to anyone because they may have to get up and leave at any moment to find a
new job. Slim at one point says: “Maybe ever’body in the whole damned world is scared of each
other”. Everyone in America at this point, including George and Lennie, are faced with isolation
in every aspect of their lives.
Outcasts in society- Lennie is an outcast in society in that he is mentally challenged, and
therefore attracts negative attention. Lennie’s incidents with the mouse, the puppy, and then
Curley’s wife further ostracize him by making him seem like a threat to society. George can be
seen as an outcast as well because he not only has the responsibility of taking care of Lennie,
but also does not make the effort to assimilate into any social “norm.” George fails to come
close to anyone because he is one of the American people that were uprooted during the Great
Depression. Crooks in an outcast at the ranch in that he is the only black person and there are
still racial tensions at this time in history.
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14. George initially shoots Lennie because Lennie lost control of himself and killed Curley’s wife.
George knows that no matter where Lennie is, he will always pose as a threat towards anything
and anyone he is around. George also knows that he can only successfully carry on with his
American Dream without Lennie. He is one step closer to accomplishing his goals, but one step
back from ever having any companionship. Since Aunt Clara’s death, George has promised to
take care of Lennie. Although it may not seem so, George is protecting Lennie by shooting him.
If he hadn’t, Lennie would have gone on bringing more misfortunes in his wake. Steinbeck
chooses to have George shoot Lennie to continue the theme of George’s isolation and the
impossibility of the American Dream without companionship. George’s decision to shoot
Lennie is based off of his love for him and wish to keep him protected, even if it means ending
his life in the process. George thinks that Lennie would be better off dead and safe than alive
and in danger of society.
15. The fate of Candy’s ancient dog compares to the fate of Lennie in that both are shot “right in
the back of the head” (Steinbeck 107). Carlson makes the point that he could shoot the dog
without him feeling anything. “The way I’d shoot him, he wouldn’t feel nothing. I’d put the gun
right there. […] Right back of the head. He wouldn’t even quiver” (Steinbeck 45). Steinbeck uses
parallelism in the final chapter in which Curley says “Right in the back of the head” (Steinbeck
107). The difference between the two is that Candy’s dog represents the fate of those who
outlive their purpose in society. The dog is old and therefore can no longer carry out its tasks.
Lennie, however, is different in that he never had a full purpose. Another way in which the dog
and Lennie are similar is that both their keepers are very fond of them. Candy has had the dog
forever and cannot bear to shoot him himself. George also is very fond of Lennie, but is able to
shoot him because he understands the threat that Lennie poses to the people around him.
Finally, the two scenarios are similar in that both represent the destruction of innocence.
Neither Lennie nor the dog have the mental capacity to purposefully commit sins, and
therefore are innocent creatures. Steinbeck perhaps wanted to point out that the innocent do
not have a place in the constantly growing and moving society.
16. The beginning section evokes an Eden-like quality with its serenity and beauty. Steinbeck does
this purposefully to create an idealized friendship between the two men and their romanticized
dream of a farm life. The tone of the beginning section is hopeful and pure. Steinbeck chose
this as the tone to establish this idea that purity cannot live in the modern world. The last
section of the novel repeats the serenity that the first section does. Many details are repeated
from the book’s opening passages, such as the quality of the sunlight, the distant mountains,
and the water snakes with their heads like “periscopes.” This time, however, even the natural
beauty is marred by the suffering of innocents. Steinbeck vividly describes a large heron
bending to snatch an unsuspecting snake out of the water, then waiting as another swims in its
direction. This heron and snake alludes to the fate of Lennie. The last section, unlike the first,
has a tone that reflects the unexpected nature of death upon the innocent. The scene now
represents hopelessness of George and Lennie’s dream of owning a farm, whereas the first
section represented a certain hope for the two men.